Chocolate-Hazelnut Cookies

Hello and welcome back to my blog! My previous success with plain sugar cookies convinced me I could tackle something much more complex (or at least what I consider to be more “complex”). So, for my third blog post I decided to focus on different flavored sugar cookies. While first flipping through Brigit Edwards’ sugar cookie book, her recipe for chocolate-hazelnut cookies caught my attention right away, because who isn’t intrigued by anything involving chocolate? According to Edwards’ husband, these cookies are, “’as close to a brownie as a cookie will ever get’” (Edwards 24). After reading this, I immediately knew that I wanted to attempt them myself.   

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups unbleached, all-purposed flour

½ cup dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon coarse salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup salted butter, cold and cut into chunks   

I cup sugar

½ cup Nutella

1 egg

I teaspoon pure vanilla extract

               Once I was sure I had everything ready and prepared, I really started by whisking together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and setting that mixture aside. I then combined the butter and sugar in a stand mixer, followed by the Nutella and egg. I slowly added the flour mixture, scrapping down the sides of the bowl when necessary.

               The next step was to separate the dough into two parts, mold each one into a disk shape, wrap them with individually with plastic wrap, and place them in the fridge to chill. Once 30 minutes had past, I took out one of the disks out and cut it in half, I put the rest of the dough in the freezer to be used another time. I lined my rolling area with wax paper and dusted it and my rolling pin with a mix of flour and cocoa powder. To cut the cookies, I used a small, star-shaped cookie cutter that was only about two inches big.

The instructions say to bake them for 9-12 minutes, but because mine were so small and thin, I took them out about 2-3 minutes early. Once they were out, I left them to cool for 2 minutes.

After taking my first bite of the cookie, I realized Edwards’ husband was right, they do taste exactly like brownies. These little chocolate cookies turned out pretty good and I’m excited to use the rest of the dough in the future.

I noticed myself being a lot more patient and much less frustrated through this whole process, which typically isn’t something that happens while I bake. Although, I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I chose to listen to music to drown out anything distracting, and focus only on the task at hand. What are somethings you do that help you focus when you are frustrated or annoyed with something? A little more related to the cookies, how should I decorate/design my next batch?